My second book for this week’s 1937 Club (hosted by Stuck in a Book and Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings) is by an author who was a childhood favourite but whose adult fiction I’ve only recently begun to explore. I loved her 1940 novel, The Winter is Past, set during the early stages of World War II, so when I saw that Caroline England was published in 1937 it seemed a perfect choice for the club.
The novel begins in 1870 with the birth of Caroline Torrys, the first child born to James and Selina Torrys of Milston Manor in Kent. The Manor has belonged to the Torrys family since the 16th century and James, desperate for a male heir, is disappointed with the arrival of a baby daughter. As the years go by and Selina becomes weak and worn down with her efforts to please her husband and produce a son, Caroline is raised in the nursery by a strict and often cruel nurse. Growing up nervous and anxious, with her spirit broken, Caroline eventually finds a way of escape when she falls in love with a writer, John England, and elopes with him. Caroline’s upper class family disapprove of John, whose father owns a shop, and she is cut off from the Torrys and her beloved Milston Manor.
The next part of the book follows Caroline through her marriage to John and the birth of her own children, whom she vows to treat with the kindness and affection she herself was starved of as a child. However, as her children grow older she finds that they don’t necessarily want her ‘interfering in their lives’ – and that John is the one demanding her time and attention. We then get to know Caroline’s children as adults and see how the family copes during World War I and its aftermath until finally, in the last section of the book, we join Caroline as a grandmother, living in a world that has changed beyond recognition.
I’ve probably given the impression that this book is very depressing – and it’s true that despite her privileged start in life, things are difficult for Caroline at times – but it’s not as bleak and miserable as it sounds. Although Caroline’s experience of being a wife and mother is not quite as blissful as she had hoped, she makes the most of what she has and finds happiness where she can. She also grows and changes as a person, as the post-war world grows and changes around her and the social system she once took for granted begins to collapse. By the end of the book, Milston Manor no longer belongs to the Torrys family and is being converted into a hotel, while Caroline herself is forced to think differently when she gets to know her son’s working-class fiancée, a woman she would have once considered ‘not our sort’.
I found the first section of the book, describing Caroline’s childhood, the most compelling because Streatfeild writes about child characters so convincingly. It was so interesting to read her portrayal of Caroline’s life in the nursery and the different methods used by her first nurse, the warm and loving Naomi, and the cold, abusive woman who takes her place, and then to see how Caroline’s upbringing affects her own choices as an adult. The later chapters, which concentrate more on Caroline’s sons and daughters, interested me slightly less, but I often find that to be the case when a family saga moves on to the next generation.
Of the two adult Streatfeild novels I’ve read, I preferred The Winter is Past as it was more tightly plotted, whereas this one covers a much longer period of time and has less focus. I enjoyed both, though, and look forward to trying some of her others.
She Reads Novels 
Good review. I hated reading “the warm and loving Naomi, and the cold, abusive woman who takes her place,” Can’t everyone just get a happy childhood–in fiction at least, lol
Yes, her childhood was really sad to read about!
Sounds fascinating. I’ve yet to read any of her adult fiction, but I might choose a tighter one than this!
She was very prolific so although I did quite enjoy this one, I think there are probably better places to start!
Yes, it does sound unfocused.
The other one I read was a lot better.
I never realized that Noel Streatfield wrote books for adults. For me, she was defined by “Ballet Shoes”. I still have an old paperback copy missing its covers in my possession. It was one of my all-time favourite books as a child. I will try to find one of her adult books and give it a go. Thanks for the suggestion!
Yes, Ballet Shoes was a childhood favourite of mine too. I wasn’t aware that she had written adult novels either until quite recently. She also wrote some lighter ones under the name Susan Scarlett, which I haven’t tried yet.
On the other hand, it’s set in Kent, so bonus points from me. With her children’s books, don’t the children (or should that be girls?) always have various difficulties to overcome? It’s never only organza dresses and blue sashes.
Yes, the children in her books never seem to have very easy lives. Caroline’s childhood was particularly sad, with that horrible nurse!
Oh, I would definitely read this – even with its imperfections! I’m always curious to see how authors envisage the decades changing and what characterises and distinguishes them, and also how social attitudes shape the lives of the principal characters.
I think you would find this book interesting from that perspective. It has a lot to say about changes in society and the class system.
Interesting – she does seem to return to the ‘how are parents raising their children’ theme in the adult novels I have read by her. I’ve only read two, but I Ordered A Table For Six was my favoured of those.
Yes, it seems to be a common theme in her novels. I’ll look out for I Ordered A Table For Six – thanks!